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RAIL Notes
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A publication of the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League - Spring 1996
Inside: Zapatistas, Response to Anarchist Black Cross, Integration?, The
Bell Curve debate
***
RAIL RALLIES AGAINST REPRESSION IN PRISONS
Boston, November 18th�The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League held a
rally outside the officesof the Department of Corrections and NYNEX
co-sponsored by MIM, Latinos Against Abuse of Prisoners, the Committee
to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners and POWs, the UMass Radical
Student Union, and Freedom Now. Over 40 people joined the rally to
oppose the increasing repression in prisons in this state and in
particular to target the new NYNEX contract with the DOC to cut
prisoners� access to phones, and tape and control every phone call.
People holding signs and banners opposing the Amerikan injustice system,
and decrying the real criminals in the Amerikan government marched
through downtown Boston. We marched past Channel 7 news pointing out how
the media is a tool of the imperialists, past City Hall voicing our
opposition to the role they play in empowering the police officers to
harass the people, and ended at the Boston Common where many people
stopped to join the rally and sign petitions.
Among the participants in the rally were parents of prisoners who
expressed outrage at the treatment of their sons, and people who had
been in prison and experienced the repression first hand. One man had
just been released from jail that day and happened on the rally and was
very excited to join in and help build the movement. Many sheets of
petitions opposing control units were filled with signatures of people
attending the rally and passing by.
People spoke about the increasing use of control units to torture
prisoners, the lack of access to education and health care, and the
systematic repression of political activists, and oppressed nations. One
prisoner from Walpole wrote a letter to RAIL about the rally updating
us on the continuing repression in this Supermax prison and pledging his
solidarity with us. He wrote:�Thank you so much for being concerned
about the on-going unlawfulness that continues to go on behind these
prison(s) walls... I greatly thank you for being there for us in our
struggles, my dear comrades!�
***
ZAPATISTAS WAGE ANTI-IMPERIALIST STRUGGLE
The EZLN is certainly a positive development in world events. MIM has
noted that the EZLN is fighting the single-party rule of the PRI which
is pro-imperialist,fascist,and unconcerned with the plight of indigenous
Mexicans.The struggles in Chiapas are proletarian struggles.It is
inspiring and encouraging to see the oppressed fight back and to a
certain extent, the EZLN�s use of the media has contributed to the
raising of consciousness about the oppression of Third World peoples.
They have liberated territory, and their example, their organizing
efforts and their propagandizing is encouraging campesinos and
working-class Mexicans to organize and fight back.(But fight back
against what? And with what kind of strategy? I will come back to these
points.)
But I think one of the biggest problems with the EZLN is that they are
far too beholden to bourgeois ideology,i.e.,First World opinion and
First World aid. From the beginning of the January �94
uprising,Subcomandante Marcos (as official spokesperson for the
Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee�General Command, CCRI-GC,
of the EZLN) was quick to distance the EZLN from the FMLN,the URGN of
Guatemala,or any other armed movements in Latin America,North
America,Europe,Africa,Asia,or Australia.(1) As if the EZLN had to prove
its purity: indigenous and homegrown, uncorrupted by outside
agitators.(MIM has disagreements over strategy. But agrees that the
Zapatistas� struggle is a righteous blow against imperialism.) Marcos
has elsewhere denied any EZLN connection with Cuba. It appears that the
CCRI-GC does not want the EZLN to be identified with anything that
smacks of communism (shudder,shudder).On the other hand, the CCRI-GC
welcomes and praises NGOs from foreign countries working in Chiapas.
Speaking for the CCRI-GC, Subcomandante Marco sent a letter to President
Clinton (dated 13 January 1994) explaining to him that the extensive
military aid the US government sends to Mexico is being used not, as
President Clinton may believe,to fight and pursue drug traffickers, but
to murder the indigenous people in the Mexican Southeast and repress
their struggle.The letter goes on to explain �We don�t receive any aid
from foreign governments, people or organizations.We have nothing to do
with national or international drug trafficking or terrorism.� The
letter ends with a plea to President Clinton not to �cover your hands
with our blood by being accomplices of the Mexican government.�(2)
In 1995, the U.S. sent the following military equipment to Mexico:25
military vehicles;24 Huey helicopters; $27 million worth of airplanes,
armaments,radars and communication systems.
The U.S. has a covert operations team in Chiapas working with the
Mexican military.The U.S. Army has been bringing Argentine mercenaries
to Chiapas.The CIA fields a substantial network of agents and covert
operatives in southeastern Chiapas, according to ex-CIA officers John
Stockwell and Ralph McGehee.(3) We can clearly conclude that
Subcomandante Marcos� appeal to President Clinton�s sense of justice was
ineffective,or,to be blunt,a complete failure. Why? Because whatever
individual presides in the State Department, be it Democrat of
Republican, be it Bill Clinton or Jesse Jackson, (or even if it were, by
some miracle, Mao Zedong risen from the dead) the purpose and function
of the United Snakes government is to maintain the imperialist system
that oppresses and exploits, among others, the indigenous peoples of
Chiapas (as well as Blacks, Latinos, and First World nations within
Amerikkka.) Subcomandante Marcos himself has written:
�And what tribute does this land [Chiapas] pay to various empires? Oil,
electric energy, cattle, money, coffee, bananas, honey, corn, cocoa,
tobacco, sugar, soy, melons, sorghum, [illegible], mangos, tamarind,
avocados and Chiapan blood flows out through 1001 fangs sunk into the
neck of southeastern Mexico. Billions of tons of natural resources go
through Mexican ports, railway stations, airports, and road systems to
various destinations: the United States, Canada, Holland, Germany,
Italy, Japan � but all with the same destiny: to feed the empire.The
dues that capitalism imposes on the southeast corner of the country ooze
out, as they have since the beginning, mud and blood.
�A handful of businesses, among them the Mexican state, take their mark
of death and disease: in 1989, the financial fang got a filling worth
1,222,699,000,000 pesos [$407,566,000], and only left behind
613,340,000,000 pesos [$205,433,000] in credit and works. More than 600
billion pesos [$200,000,000] went to the stomach of the beast.�(4)
Indeed, Chiapas is exploited by both the Mexican national bourgeoisie
and the international bourgeoisies. A very good portrait, or case study,
of imperialist exploitation. Yet nowhere in the four Declarations from
the Lacandon Jungle will you find the words �imperialism� or
�anti-imperialism.� The oppression of the indigenous peoples of Chiapas
is defined as a �Mexican� problem. The enemy named is the �bad
government� of Mexico. This is an insufficient analysis. The enemy is
much larger than the government of Mexico. It is internationally
organized. The CCRI-GC knows this. Again, it does appear that they are
reluctant to offend the refined sensibilities of the Amerikkkan people
or government. This sort of diplomacy won�t help the people of Chiapas
very much.
On the other hand, there is very little to be gained (other than some
handouts from NGOs and Amerikan liberal-left organizations) from the
EZLN�s reluctance to have any association whatsoever with any other
liberation movements. The EZLN should consider studying the experiences
of the PCP and the CPP, and consider initiative dialogues with them. The
army that brutalizes and murders peasants in Peru is trained and
financed by the same United Snakes government that sends military aid to
the Mexican Army. The pigs that murder, torture and imprison Blacks in
Amerika are part of the same imperialist system as the Mexican Army.
Yes, Comandante Marcos, if the EZLN took a proletarian internationalist
stand against imperialism (which is also international), it would offend
a great many North Amerikans who materially benefit from imperialist
oppression; and the U.S. Government would,more than likely,accuse the
EZLN of being a communist organization. So what? What have they done for
you? You might lose the aid of some NGOs; but you might advance the
struggle against imperialism that is oppressing the majority of the
world�s population.
To quote MIM: �In MIM�s opinion the EZLN must study the historical
instances in which other groups almost identical to them, in all of
Latin America, have attempted the same guerrilla warfare without a
party, and without the participation of a mass base, is a sacrifice in
vain. Many have given their lives to confused and wrong ideas.�(7)
Notes:
1. Shades of Tender Fury: The Letters and Communiques of Subcomandante
Marcos and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, 1995: Monthly
Review Press, p. 56.
2. Ibid., pp. 71-2.
3. Information sheet compiles by the St. Louis Inter-faith Committee on
Latin America.
4. op cit., p. 33.
5. MIM Notes, Oct. 1995, �MIM Answers EZLN survey� p. 5
6. Available from a web page on the Zapatistas
http://www.peak.org/~justin/ezln/ezln.html
7. MIM Notes Oct. 1995, op. cit.
***
DC PRISONERS LOCKED DOWN AND OUT
Prisoners of the DC �correctional complex� at Lorton are currently
locked down in their cells and locked out of the classrooms. A 27 year
old program, which had allowed prisoners to take classes from the
University of the District of Columbia, is closed. No new students will
be accepted and only prisoners who are one or, at most, two courses away
from graduation will be able to register this semester. The program will
remain closed next fall. (1)
While a few GED and vocational ed courses will occasionally be offered
to selected prisoners, the closure of the UDC program coincides with
increased repression of prisoners in DC and nationally. A DC �superior
court� recently heard a lawsuit by UDC students against university
president Tilden LaMelle, who conspired with the UDC student Election
Board to disenfranchise Lorton student-prisoners from the campus
election last April. As reported in December MIM Notes, the UDC Board of
Trustees officially took away the prisoners� votes in November. (2)
In addition to being denied educational opportunities, prisoners at
Lorton are currently filing at least one class action suit against the
prison for the criminal conditions there: severe overcrowding, violent
guard assaults, outbreaks of TB, cruel denial of medical care, gross and
insufficient food, nearly constant lockdowns and censorship. The DC RAIL
branch is currently planning a campaign to expose prison repression in
the area. Interested people, on the inside and the outside, should
contact RAIL. Expose repression, end the Amerikkkan lockdown!
Notes:
(1) Washington Post, Jan 22 1996, D1
(2) Washington Post, Jan 3 1996, D6
***
RESPONSE TO LETTER FROM ANARCHIST BLACK CROSS ON ZAPATISTAS
Dear Comrade,
This letter is in response to the one dated October 19, 1995 and sent
to MIM. It will flush out the meaning of democracy in the context of the
EZLN and Marxist-Leninist-Maoist theory. It will also broach the
universal applicability of theory and the importance of the principal
contradiction.
The author of the Oct. 19 letter asserts that the EZLN�s balloting in
the First World, (discussed in the September and October issues of MIM
Notes) was not an example of �looking for First World support� but a
principled commitment to democracy meant to include members of the
Mexican nations living outside Mexico. While there is some merit to this
argument, the vague nature of EZLN�s consultation of the questions (see
Oct. 1995 MIM Notes for the text) displays the EZLN�s lack of clear
direction. They pick up the gun to get the Mexican government to
negotiate, instead of settling into protracted institution building. It
is not democracy to send ballots to the First World (indeed it sounds
like bourgeois electoral politics � as Emma Goldman said �In America,
voting is the opium of the masses�). Marxists realize that democracy
only exists where there is responsibility. The responsibility of
carrying out revolution in Mexico lies with the Mexican masses. They
fight the day to day struggle, and discussions of the direction of the
movement only makes sense in that context. Ballots in Sweden and Amerika
just don�t cut it. The balloting doesn�t merely show a mistaken concept
of democracy, but displays a clear lack of direction.
Mao summed up the lessons of the Chinese Communist Party in his essay
�On the People�s Democratic Dictatorship� (July 30, 1949. Selected
Readings, p. 385)
�A well disciplined party armed with the theory of Marxism-Leninism,
using the method of self-criticism and linked with the masses of the
people; an army under the leadership of such a party; a united front of
all revolutionary classes and all revolutionary groups under the
leadership of such a party�these are the three main weapons with which
we have defeated the enemy.�
The EZLN would do well to learn these lessons. It is not true, as the
letter writer asserts, that Mao assumed that the Chinese masses were
backward and didn�t believe it was possible to educate them while
fighting Japanese imperialism. On the contrary, fighting Japanese
imperialism was a crucial step in China�s self-education. Theory and
practice go hand in hand. Guerrilla war is a school for revolutionaries.
This is again the essence of democracy. One only gains the ability to
make good decisions by actively trying to change reality. The Chinese
Communist Party provided direction to the Chinese people; and the
Chinese masses� participation in their own decolonization, and later
creation of socialism, was their education.
This idea of learning by doing, combining theory and practice, is at the
center of what Maoists mean when they say Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is a
universally applicable science. It is not that Maoists have a phone line
to God or a Platonic vision of eternal truth, but that by actively
trying to change reality and summing up that experience, Maoists have
compiled more than a hundred years of data and theory about making
revolution. The strategy of People�s War is not just one strategy among
many, it is the only one that has worked again and again. There is no
time for balloting, backsliding, or bumbling with failed strategies.
Revolutionaries need to examine the historical record and make
revolution.
In struggle,
A RAIL comrade
***
COMRADES DEBATE ZAPATISTAS
I have a few questions for comrades in RAIL. The first one concerns the
structure of the CCRI-GC and the EZLN. The leadership of the EZLN is the
Committee of Clandestine Indigenous Revolution, which is composed of 18
representatives of four Mayan-language ethnic groups. It�s interesting
to compare the CCRI-GC to the structure of a Maoist vanguard party. As I
see it, the CCRI-GC is from the masses,but not to the masses. That is
to say, they represent and are answerable to their indigenous
constituencies, but they do not lead them. They do not have a mass line.
What does mass line mean? If I understand it correctly, a Maoist
vanguard party would recruit and train cadres in revolutionary theory,
(as much as possible from the indigenous communities that they lead) and
these cadres would be fielded to organize and educate the masses, living
with and working with the indigenous populations, and in cooperation
with the indigenous People�s Army. That is what we mean by practicing
and internationalist revolutionary line. Am I correct?
Other questions: Is it correct for MIM to call on the CCRI-GC to
transform itself into a Maoist vanguard party? If not, how should
Mexicans go about forming a MIP and what would its relation to the
CCRI-GC and EZLN be? To what extent does MIM agree with the declared
goal of the EZLN: to overthrow the present undemocratic government and
conduct truly free and fair elections in which all sectors of society
would participate?
On final question: A RAIL member wrote that �the Zapatistas use
spontaneous mass insurrections and sporadic violence as a prod for
negotiations.�(5) I am not clear on this point. The January 1994
uprising was planned a year in advance. I must not understand what MIM
means by spontaneity. (Please send me Rebolusyon, Special Edition,
January 1993 on this.)
.
A RAIL comrade responds:
Indeed, the Zapatistas do not put forth a vanguard line that will lead
the masses to national liberation. This is why they are guilty of
spontaneity. Even if planned in advance, any uprising of the masses
outside of the context of communist-led national liberation is
�spontaneous�.
The Zapatistas� deviation on mass-line is ultraleft because although it
purports to be the �native� sensibilities of Chiapas, the masses really
want national liberation and if the Zapatistas can�t tell them how to
get there they�re failing the People. A successful vanguard leads the
people to liberation while being educated by them. It would be very
positive if the Zapatistas, or another group in Mexico, formed a Maoist
party. Studying the principles of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, and
practising a mass line and self-criticism, would be a sound foundation
for self-reliant socialist revolution.
Definitely the Zapatistas, formed as a Maoist party, should overthrow
the Mexican government. However, it is not enough then to just institute
elections. The bourgeoisie and the imperialists are too strong to let
them vote themselves in power again: witness Nicaragua. During the
course of revolution, it will become clear who is a friend and who is an
enemy. When the Mexican government is overthrown, during the period of
New Democracy friends may vote and enemies may not.
***
WHAT IS RAIL?
The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) is a mass organization
of anti-imperialists led by the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM).
RAIL is for anyone who supports self-determination for all peoples
including the necessity of armed struggle against imperialism. The only
requirement for joining RAIL is the recognition that RAIL will be led by
MIM. RAIL members should not attempt to conceal this fact when working
amongst the masses. In practice, accepting MIM leadership will mean that
RAIL chapters do not accept the leadership of other organizations or
worked out lines.
RAIL, P.O. Box 3576 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576
***
In April, RAIL will bring the latest news from the people�s war in the
Philippines to a town near you. Support the Struggle in the Philippines!
is a week of films, speakers, and education events to build public
support for the Maoist-led anti-imperialist war for independence. Help
bring the tour to a town near you by raising money, finding locations
and distributing literature. Contact MIM or RAIL.
***
INTEGRATION...
Dear Comrades:
Unfortunately, it is hard to commit to any sort of revolutionary work,
line, or practice because the American government suppresses communists
and anti-imperialists with the greatest of force. I think to a certain
extent, the 60�s are proof of this, BPP most notably. MIM cannot
seriously overlook this threat to the revolutionary. Though I realize
that risks come in all lines of work, and that life itself is a risk to
a certain extent, people with families, people with jobs, these people
have the risk of losing everything including life (black lists of the
50�s). I know of a couple of people who would be willing to rise in
arms right now, if they didn�t have husbands & wifes & children & jobs.
This is also why I think MIM should attempt to win votes in elections in
the US. Revolution has many stages and forms, and being on the American
political scene (even though for the most part it�s a dirty one), can
win even more of the hearts of the people in the country of the US. In
the end, armed revolution is unfortunately the solution, but I feel that
this can help. The greater the masses, the less blood shed and the
easier transformation.
Whites who don�t commit themselves to the risk of revolution, aren�t
necessarily oppressors. It almosts sounds like MIM is saying that any
white not in some sort of revolutionary work, and that has a job, is an
oppressor. That�s not true. I think MIM has to open its mind to whites
more, for not all are of the oppressor. MIM�s own forces are
multi-national at this stage of the struggle. I certainly agree and am
glad of this. MIM believes that without changing the fundamental
structure of society and the economy (in other words, under the current
system of inequality) integrationism has proven to be a failed strategy
for the oppressed nations. Liquidation of oppressed group identity in
favor of a false unity with the oppressor group inevitably results in
the liquidation of the oppressed group�s interests.
American integrationism, if you use the word in correct context, we
never had it and still don�t today. Indeed, integrationism means that
the oppressor nation�s national pride remains dangerously intact �
albeit masked by integrationist rhetoric � while the oppressed nation is
told to subordinate their own altogether. I think MIM is downing an
integration that was never there. Though things in the US still suck,
one must admit that things are a little better then say the 20�s, and in
saying this, how did we get to this better stage if not by Blacks &
Whites working together. Martin Luther King did it through blacks and
whites walking hand in hand. Still, I agree that, led by a proletarian
feminist party, national liberation struggle remains the best option for
Black, Latino and First Nation peoples.
Aren�t white people liberating themselves from capitalism as well? I
know a few blacks that make more money then middle class whites. Who�s
more of the oppressor? Is Chris Webber (who signed a 70 some million
dollar contract with the Washington Bullets), is he in 1996, is he an
oppressed person? Are a middle class white couple (70 grand combined
income), are they oppressing him (not that I agree with their income or
anything about them)? If yes, then why? Because they�re white? That in
itself is racist! �American Integration� is wrong because its not
integration. How can you call off integration if it was never there and
never had a chance. American Integration wasn�t a chance, it was a way
for white people to hide racism under and keep a clear conscience. Just
as slavery laws on blacks were changed into Jim Crow laws. Just a way
to ease the conscience of a depressed abolitionist named Abraham
Lincoln, a known racist himself.
To Be Continued!
On with the Revolution!
�a RAIL comrade
***
NOT! (a response to Integrationism...)
Dear Comrade:
The point of Marxist class analysis is not to predict on which side
any given individual will fight during revolution, but on which side a
group of people will fight during revolution. Some individual whites
side with MIM while some individual Blacks side with the bourgeoisie.
Some very rich whites will fight for revolution and avery few poor
Latinos might be counter-revolutionaries. However, the white nation on
the whole will not side with MIM while there�s a very good chance that
the Black Nation will. This prediction is based on the material
conditions experienced by each group. The white nation�s prosperity
comes directly from the blood, sweat and tears of the exploited
proletariat: the Third World proletariat, the Black proletariat, the
Latino and First Nations proletariats. There is no white proletariat.
There are some poor whites but generally their poverty is temporary and
they know it (unlike the Third World who will only stop being poor when
they win their revolutions). Even those occasional white communities
that have been poor for generations�like in Appalachia�show more
solidarity with rich white folks than with the oppressed nations. This
is fact despite generations of organizing attempts by the CPUSA and RCP.
Therefore revolutionaries should win individual whites to the side of
the oppressed nations without expecting the support of the white nation
as a whole.
On the other hand many rich Blacks, who as a class make up the national
bourgeoisie, will side with the Black proletariat to escape white
supremacy. It is important that a revolutionary communist party
representing the proletarian nationalist forces lead the war of national
liberation because the national bourgeoisie only wants capitalism and
neo-colonialism, not self-reliant socialism. The experience of the
Chinese communists shows that the national bourgeoisie will try to sell
out the revolution if given the chance to lead.
Integration is not a realistic strategy because it ignores the material
conditions now. The white nation can exploit the Black nation because it
is more powerful than the Black nation. Oppressed nations can only
integrate as equal partners when they stop being oppressed (and
oppressor nations don�t stop oppressing because of some moral
argument�only armed struggle forces their hand). This is one of the
problems of elections. They promise something they can�t deliver. When
MTV runs a campaign like �Choose or Lose �96� it�s imperative that
oppressed nationals realize that they lose either way. Clinton and Dole
represent death by suffocation and death by lynching. Moreover, voting
for socialism is not a possibility given the strength of racist
capitalist opposition. Within the settler-imposed boundaries of the US,
bought-off imperialists have the majority. Only open borders will
change that. Even in Third World countries, Chile�s failure to sustain
�voted-in socialism� under Allende should reinforce Lenin�s point in
State and Revolution: bourgeois elections are too slow and the
capitalists too strong for us to play with their dirty electoral hoaxes.
The vanguard party must expose bourgeois elections as they are, while
offering up a real solution for oppressed nations. The real solution is
building independent power�if a nation can feed itself, house itself,
clothe itself and defend itself it can free itself. This doesn�t just
apply to nations either. Group self-reliance is key to the liberation
of women, youth and all oppressed groups. Can you imagine ending
patriarchy or paternalism with a vote?
As for the supposedly life-threatening repression of the 50s and the
effectiveness of Martin Luther King�s Black & White united organizing,
there are two responses. First Sakai makes an excellent case in Settlers
(which is, by the way, the source of the above argument on the white
working class) that the 1950s repression was nothing compared to what
oppressed nationals faced then or now. There were hearings, some job
losses and a rare politically motivated death, but no widespread
military repression.While revolutionaries should take risks seriously,
it is simply not true that white communists were facing death squads in
the 50s; for the simple reason that white communists in the 1950s were
not a threat to the US empire. Second, what would Martin Luther King�s
success have amounted to if he were not backed up with the revolutionary
nationalism of Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party? The white ruling
class felt threatened by real revolutionary potential and opted to
accept token integration�i.e. buy off a sector of the Black
population�in order to maintain imperialist white supremacy.
In struggle,
a RAIL comrade
***
ANN ARBOR CALENDAR OF EVENTS
September 13th: Who killed Vincent Chin?�Video about the racist murder
of Vincent Chin, a young Chinese man, by white auto workers who thought
he was Japanese and taking their jobs. Despite many witnesses, the
killers were set free.
September 20th: Harvest of Shame�Documentary about the exploitation of
migrant workers who produce food for Amerikans.
September 27th: Medics of the People�Video made about the (New People�s
Army) NPA guerrillas in the Philippines, who are fighting both against
imperialism and to meet the needs of the people.
October 11th: Hungry for Profit�This documentary shows the true causes
of the starvation death of 14 million each year. This progressive
viewpoint is documented very clearly on one hand, while also showing
interviews with corporate and government leaders for their excuses on
the other. On-site footage from Latin America, Asia and Africa. It
explodes the myths about the �free market� economy.
October 25th: FBI�s War on Black Amerika�Rare footage of the Black
Panther Party and other activists in the struggle against white nation
domination. The various tactics of the Amerikan war�like COINTELPRO�are
documented.
November 8th: Through the Wire�The video examines the conditions of
Lexington women�s supermaximum security control unity and focuses on
three women being held there. The three give testimony to the use of the
control unit as a specific punishment for and attempt to destroy persons
imprisoned for political crimes. Accompanying this will be a 20/20 clip
on Marion supermax.
November 29th: People of the Shining Path�Video includes interviews with
members and supports of the Communist Party of Peru both inside and
outside prison. Also the video illustrates the oppressive conditions
that Peruvian peasants face and why they fight for revolution.
December 13th: Hearts and Minds�Documentary about the U.S. war on
Vietnam and the opposition it generated within Amerika. Vietnamese
people�s success in ousting U.S. imperialism exemplifies the power of
the Maoist military strategy of protracted people�s war.
All events are held at East Quad room 126 at 7:15. All videos are
followed by a discussion. The above events are sponsored by RAIL
(Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League) and MIM (Maoist Internationalist
Movement.) This is a preliminary calendar for events in Ann Arbor. If
other groups or individuals would like to do work and/or co-sponsor
above events or propose others to put on in addition to the above, you
can contact RAIL and MIM at: MIM Distributors P.O. Box 3576 Ann Arbor,
MI 48106-3576
***
PRISON CORRESPONDENCE
Letter from deported Mass prisoner:
Greetings and salutations!
The other day a friend received a letter from a friend of his in the
street. In this letter was a notice of a rally in support of the 299
prison inmates sent to Dallas TX by Gov. Weld. I am glad that your
organization has smiled on our plight. It tends to ease an otherwise
worried mind that some civilian organization should care and speak out
agasint such an obtuse and callous, as well as money-grabbing and
self-serving state government and person as Bill �Let them eat cake�
Weld.
I don�t know much about your organization or of it�s inner workings, so
if you would please send me some of your literature. I would be in great
appreciation. Further I would like to extend a hand of salute and in
friendship to you all for your support.
�Mass prisoner in Dallas, TX
Jan 26 1996
PS If you are interested, I can write you about my experience of the
mid-night hours of October 31, 1995 [the day of the deportation]. Let me
know by return mail.
RAIL responds: Yes, please send us information about your deportation
and also about your conditions in Dallas. Information direct from
prisoners is our most reliable source of information, but it is scarce
sometimes due to the control the pigs have over your communications. We
will send you literature shortly.
Readers on the outside are encouraged to send RAIL money (cash or checks
made out to MIM) to send literature to prisoners. Also, contact RAIL to
help build rallies like the rally in Boston that the prisoner is
referring to.
In response to a flyer announcing RAIL/MIM�s recent rally against prison
expansion in Boston, one prisoner wrote back:
�I will fast on MLK day and not eat the Fried Chicken, Collard Greens,
etc, etc, meal which is served. I think that in and of itself [the day]
is denigrative of all that my ancestors have died in struggle to rid the
world of. If you can sacrifice your time to stand in the cold I can go
without food in congruence with your endeavors. Please send any
paperwork evolving from the Jan 15th protest event. Thanx and stay
strong of spirits�forever keep the faith�
Another prisoner wrote:
Dear RAIL,
I (luckily) happened to get a copy of your newsprint/flyer: Repression
in Mass. Prisons [Mass RAIL]. Hopefully many people on the outside (as
apathetic as they are) also received a copy and got an eye-opener
because of it! I believe that until prisons can demonstrate a
commonality with the community, the community will maintain an elitist
attitude towards the already demonized-penalized prisoners.
I was very much impressed about your film list and discussion series!
Not only do the public need to be educated on these issues, but
prisoners too! Would you be interested in conducting and involving us in
your film and discussion series? We are truly a captured audience in
every sense of the phrase. Also, I believe RAIL�s involvement would wake
up some old and young dead ass prisoners to taking charge of their
condition (of confinement).
Please let me know at your earliest convenience whether this is a
realistic venture for you. I can�t express enough how important this is
for us.
Very truly Yours,
Bay State prisoner
November 16, 1995
Response from MassRAIL: We are glad to hear that a copy of the Mass RAIL
got inside your prison and thank whoever sent it in to you. We will put
you on our mailing list to receive this publication regularly. We invite
you to contribute to this and to our organizing work by keeping us up to
date on what is going on in your prison.
We would very much like to involve the prisoners in our educational work
and welcome suggestions from you as to how we might do this. It is
difficult to get revolutionary information inside the prisons as the
censorship from the prison pigs is a very big problem. If you have a way
for us to get information and materials for education inside, or an idea
of how we can create this, we are very interested in hearing about it
and working with you to make it happen.
Also enclosed is a copy of MIM Notes, the newspaper of the Maoist
Internationalist Movement (which you saw mentioned in the copy of Mass
RAIL that you have). Inside it you will see the regular monthly section
Under Lock and Key and more information about the prison work that MIM
does.
We look forward to hearing more from you about how we can better involve
prisoners in the struggles and educational work we are carrying out
***
BALTIMORE PIGS BRUTALITY
The January 24 issue of the Baltimore City Paper quotes internal police
evidence that Baltimore pigs engage in �brutality�,�drinking on duty�,
gambling, drug use, claiming excessive overtime, and according to a
letter from a fraternal organization of Black cops, �constantly going
around stating that they hate the city�meaning they hate Blacks who live
in the city.� The head of the Internal Investigations Division of the
Baltimore City Police Department (IID) responds saying �I�m interested
in straightening the police department out and making it a place where
honest, hard-working people can work.�
RAIL supporters are not interested in getting the pigs to work harder.
The pigs exist to keep impoverished oppressed nationals in the ghetto,
away from the business district and affluent suburbs. Like the hired
security guards in so many department stores, pigs make sure property
stays in the hands of those least deserving: the Amerikan middle and
upper classes. Meanwhile, oppressed national youth are targeted by pigs
at every level�police, prosecutors, judges and parole boards�so that in
cities like Baltimore and D.C. one in three of us are either behind bars
or on probation. The occupiers� government has made an industry of
imprisoning the oppressed nations that only rivals their massive war
machine.
The City Paper also quotes a pig from Baltimore�s Violent Crimes Task
Force describing new police initiatives as �real community policing.�
The cops may be really policing the community, but they aren�t policing
their community. As the Black Panthers said over and over, the police
are an occupying military force in the ghetto. They cannot be reformed
or refined for our benefit�only destroyed along with the occupying
United Snakes government and its imperial allies in industry.
***
THE BELL CURVE DEBATE
Dec 4th Amherst, MA�RAIL and MIM distributed flyers and struggled with
the masses outside of a debate between white supremacist Charles Murray,
author of The Bell Curve, and Harvard Prof. Poissant. Between 25 and 30
people showed up to protest Murray�s ideas and his presence at the
University. Murray was invited by the university�s Distinguished
Visitors Program. The Bell Curve has enjoyed both controversy and
�best-seller� popularity for its revival and defense of fallacious white
superiority theories based on IQ testing.
RAIL and MIM differed with many of the protesters on the question of
�freedom of speech�. We did not support Murray�s �right� to speak his
views. There is no freedom without equality and the inequitable
distribution of resources in Amerikkka makes the free exchange of ideas
impossible. Furthermore, there is a fine line between speech which
advocates oppression and the implementation of this speech. It�s no
coincidence that Murray gets paid lots of money and is showered with
media attention to spread his ideas and further his agenda. His
ideology props up the Amerikkkan bourgeois dictatorship, so all of its
forces rally behind him.
Many students agreed that Murray�s invitation to the University was no
aberration. The whole educational system is designed to keep certain
groups outside the ivory tower. This intentional sifting out starts in
primary school with grading, standardized testing, tracking and
disproportionate access to educational resources.
Some white students reacted defensively to the protesters exclaiming
they wanted to �hear both sides of the story.� This sounds like white
supremacy seeking a justification. Bourgeois training has them
believing that a PhD justifies bringing back the racial hierarchy
theories which attempted to maintain the slave system. The economic
system of inequality and its role in the production of ideas today is
ignored in favor of a material interest in that system.
The majority of attendees at the lecture opposed Murray�s ideas. RAIL
and MIM recognize the revolutionary potential of students in this
country and encourage them to join the fight to end the exploitative
system: a system which is an enemy to a majority of the world�s people,
including the internal colonies within u.s. borders.
***
The following is a flyer which RAIL and MIM distributed before a debate
between white supremacist Charles Murray and a Harvard professor. The
debate was held at the UMASS Fine Arts Center in December and was
sponsored by the Distinguished Visitor�s Program.
REJECT PSEUDO-SCIENCE OF INTELLIGENCE: STRUGGLE FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION!
The science of The Bell Curve is faulty, but the book is popular in
Amerikkka because it defends the genocidal status quo. The bourgeoisie
would rather blame oppression on people�s genes instead of their corrupt
system of plunder. Murray�s work, and that of Smith College�s Itzkoff,
provide ideological ammunition for Amerika�s war against the oppressed.
With the prevalence of standardized testing and �tracking� in schools,
one can say that Murray may be extreme, but not an aberration.
Even the U.S. government is in the act, spending $58 million in 1994 to
study the �genetic� causes of violence.(1) Genetics contribute to many
aspects of development, but in social human beings, they never act
alone. Every genetic influence acts in an environmental context.
Intelligence as a measurable thing or genetically determined cognitive
ability simply doesn�t exist. IQ is a white invention legitimized by
socially constructed theories and institutions which themselves have an
oppressive national and class character. These theories and institutions
serve the current power structure, perpetuating oppression under the
banner of being �natural�.
For Charles Murray, intelligence is defined, via a standardized test, as
the mental characteristic of those with material advantages (education,
nutrition, health care, etc.). He then takes this relationship and
labels it a cause, that intelligence determines material realities. This
is tautology, not science. Pseudo-scientists like Murray attempt to
obscure the truth that imperialism oppresses because it is profitable.
We must smash the myth of genetic determinism and build up a people�s
science that expands, not limits, the potential of people.
MIM calls on �liberal� professional academics as well as students, to
oppose not just Murray�s book, but the identical theory that�s propping
up Amerika. Students need to revolutionize education so that it serves
the interests of the majority of laboring people, and work to liberate
all of humanity from the likes of Charles Murray and Bill Clinton.
Education cannot be �reformed� in a society where exploitation,
genocide, and inequality are at the base of the economic and social
structure. Only a revolution can change the fundamental nature of
Amerikkkan society. Until this system is abolished, reactionaries like
Murray will continue to be showered with funding and media attention to
spew white supremacist ideology.
Work with MIM to overthrow white supremacist, imperialist, patriarchal
Amerikkka!
Note:
1. Washington Post 1/29/95, p. C1.
***
END RAIL Notes - Spring 1996
